TEREM LOOKS FOR SURVIVAL, TOO

In order to fight terror, one needs to think as a terrorist, says Valentin Trifonov, Executive Director of the Bozhurishte-based General Zaimov military repair plant. The head of the Terem EAD branch told the BANKER weekly that anti-terror engineering and the development of security technical systems, in particular, has been a priority in the company's innovation program since 2002. Thanks to the collaboration of a team of experts, led by professor Tilcho Ivanov from the Military Economy Faculty at the University for National and World Economy, a system that guarantees the physical safety of classified information (as required by the respective regulations) has been prepared. The project is to be used by the Headquarters of the Anti-Aircraft Defence. Its implementation is supported by the Head of the Anti-Aircraft Defence, Dincho Karamunchev, as well as by the Military Police and Counter-Intelligence Service, the Communication and Information Systems Chief Directorate at the General Staff, and the Agency for Testing Armaments, Machinery, and Property, at the Ministry of Defence. The one-year testing period of the system's prototype started last May. According to Valentin Trifonov, as it is hard to find foreign financing, money for the project came from the producer, the Terem unit in Bozhurishte, and does not exceed BGN50,000. The same method has been used for financing the designing and the production of an anti-terror barrier of the so called heavy type. It is of the same class as the barrier installed in front of the US Embassy building in Sofia. The tool will replace the currently used simple barrier at the gate of the Ministry of Defence. As engineer Trifonov assured, the barrier will be ready for installation by February 2 and will cost about BGN9,500 to the Ministry, VAT not included.Special concrete pillars that can be lifted up to 60 cm with an electric engine will be installed again at the gate of the Anti-Aircraft Defence headquarters. The pillars were produced by the General Zaimov plant and are currently being improved. It is still unknown why the Bulgarian battalion in Iraq did not have that kind of anti-terror equipment. The Bozhurishte-based plant promises it will show some new anti-terror barriers applicable in refineries, oil bases, etc., at the Hemus 2004 armament exhibition planned to take place in Plovdiv next May. Very few of these civil sites are equipped with such extras at present, Valentin Trifonov said.The production of anti-terror equipment seems to have also attracted companies included in the Military Industrial Complex. For example, the Kazanlak-based Arsenal plant committed itself to produce a special jeep with a machine gun installed on it for the needs of the Bulgarian rangers in Karbala. Unfortunately, it turned out that the task had not been put precisely by the Ministry of Defence. That's why, experts from Arsenal explain, the result was not quite satisfactory and the vehicle wasn't appropriate for its purpose. Maybe it's time for some of Bulgaria's wise rulers to realize that fighting terrorism today takes money, apart from other things.